Thanks to Michio Fujimoto, former mayor of Wake Town in Japan鈥檚 Okayama Prefecture, a 10,000-square-meter wisteria park is a major attraction in the city鈥檚 Jiading District.

The park was the result of 30 years of effort by the 86-year-old man from Japan, and symbolizes the friendship between the Japanese town and the district, and also between China and Japan.

In recognition of Fujimoto鈥檚 contribution in promoting the Sino-Japanese friendship, the city granted him honorary citizenship this year, its highest award for foreigners.

Born in 1932 in Okayama Prefecture, Fujimoto got his name Michio, which means 鈥淭ao Sheng鈥� in Chinese, or growth of the Tao, from lines in 鈥淭he Analects of Confucius鈥濃�斺�淭he gentleman devotes himself to the roots or fundamentals. When the roots are well planted, the Tao will grow.鈥�

He served as mayor of Wake from 1978 to 2002 and has been chairman of the Okayama Prefecture Common Donation Party since 2002.

Fujimoto鈥檚 connections with Shanghai began in 1987 when he was trying to find a twin town in China.

鈥淲ake Town had been famous for Sino-Japanese exchanges,鈥� Fujimoto told Shanghai Daily. 鈥淲ake no Kiyomaro, a famous politician during the Nara and Heian periods, had sponsored monks to come to China in the Tang Dynasty to study Chinese culture, which greatly facilitated Japan鈥檚 development in its economy, culture and other areas and laid the foundations of the current Japan.鈥�

As the monks were known as ambassadors to Tang, Fujimoto, influenced by the politician鈥檚 legacy, wanted to send young students as new ambassadors to China to follow in their ancestor鈥檚 footsteps of more than 1,200 years ago and carry on exchanges with China, as well as expand their own international vision.

The Wake government raised 150 million yen (US$1.3 million) in 1983 to celebrate the great man鈥檚 1,250th birthday, spending 100 million of it on a sculpture and building a wisteria park.

Fujimoto decided to spend the remaining money on the ambassador program.

He turned to the Japan-China Friendship Association and the Chinese People鈥檚 Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries for help and got a list of recommended places that included Jiading in Shanghai.

Fujimoto chose Jiading as 鈥渋t was the best in terms of infrastructure鈥� and he had heard about Shanghai from a friend, the head of the legislative body in his hometown.

鈥淲hen he drank with me, he always said that he had a lot of friends in Shanghai when he did textile business here before World War II and that Shanghainese were very friendly,鈥� said Fujimoto.

鈥淗e did not mention in which part of Shanghai he had stayed, but I guess it might have been Jiading as I later found it has a long history of textile industry and there is even a gallery here which was transformed from a textile factory. It鈥檚 a pity that I had never asked about the names of his friends as I didn鈥檛 expect that I would be so closely connected with Shanghai later. Otherwise, I could visit them here.鈥�

Since connections were established, the Wake Town government has been sending around 20 middle school students to Jiading in March every year.

They visit schools, participate in activities involving traditional Chinese culture and sports with local students and even stay with local families. They also visit scenic spots such as Yuyuan Garden and the Bund, and cities around Shanghai, including Suzhou and Hangzhou.

The program used to be one-way due to China鈥檚 poor economy. But with fast development and improved financial conditions, the Jiading government began to send Chinese students to Japan every May.

First wisteria park

Fujimoto retired in 2002, but the program continues.

He visited Jiading for the first time in November 1987 and was given a warm welcome by district leaders and residents.

Now he visits Shanghai at least twice a year and has made more than 70 visits in the past 30 years, bringing what he has seen in China back to Japan and promoting mutual exchanges.

During his term of office, he had led delegations from Wake to Jiading every year and invited their counterparts from Jiading to visit Wake.

The two parties officially signed an agreement for regular friendly exchanges on October 15, 1992.

Fujimoto helped Shizutani High School, where he had studied, establish friendship with Jiading No.1 High School, making Jiading one of the study tour destinations for Japanese high school students during the summer vacation.

With his efforts, a company producing carp streamers also set up a joint venture in Jiading.

He was given Shanghai鈥檚 Magnolia Gold Award in 1996 for his efforts in promoting Shanghai鈥檚 international exchanges.

鈥淚 felt greatly honored to receive that award as I was not only a giver but also a receiver of gratitude and friendship from Shanghai people,鈥� he said.

He then had a new idea.

鈥淚 wished to leave some long-lasting symbol in Shanghai, which could stand for Japanese culture and the friendship between the city and my hometown, just like the famous cherry trees along the Potomac River in Washington DC, which were given by Japan as a gift and a symbol of the friendship between the countries,鈥� he said.

鈥淲isteria is also loved by Japanese people because it鈥檚 fragrant and beautiful and it is also a symbol of nobility as it was the emblem of the Fujiwara clan, one of the noble families in Japan,鈥� he said. 鈥淢eanwhile, the Wake Wisteria Park, with wisteria not only from Japan, but also varieties from all over the world including China, had become successful at that time, attracting about 100,000 visitors a year, compared to the 15,000 population in the town.鈥�

He proposed the idea of a wisteria park to the then Jiading government and it was immediately approved.

But the first choice of land downtown was rejected by Fujimoto.

He said wisteria needed a large space and plenty of sunshine to grow, while urban development in the area would inevitably affect its growth. The government provided another piece of land in the south of the district, near the ancient moat, covering about 10,000 square meters.

Fujimoto raised 2 million yen from the carp streamer company to build frames for the plants to grow.

He chose 120 wisteria of over 30 Japanese varieties, including six of Japan鈥檚 national-level protected types, and personally grafted them into Jiading.

The park was built in September 1997 to mark the 10th anniversary of friendly exchanges between Jiading and Wake and opened to the public in May 1999.

It is the first wisteria themed park in China and now attracts about 500,000 visitors a year between April and May.

Fujimoto later helped build up five wisteria corridors around Jiading, with a total length of over 2,000 meters.

He comes to Shanghai every year to prune the plants and teach local staff how to graft and manage them.

鈥淯nlike cherry trees, wisteria needs much more care to blossom nicely,鈥� said Fujimoto.

He has also helped Shanghai establish two seedling centers.

He invites Shanghai gardeners to Japan to learn pruning skills and gives lectures in Shanghai, where he鈥檚 trained more than 200 people.

He has also taken wisteria cuttings back to Japan from China, including those in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Second hometown

In 2001, he introduced Kirishima City, which also hosts a wisteria park, to Jiading to help them establish exchanges.

As a horticulturalist, he has also trained many grape cultivators for Jiading, making Shanghai the first place in China to master the skills of low-density grape cultivation in greenhouses, contributing to the success of the brand of grapes grown in Jiading鈥檚 Malu Town.

Fujimoto said that though he comes to Shanghai every year, he is still shocked at its rapid changes.

鈥淲hen I came to Shanghai for the first time, Hongqiao Airport was so small that I stepped out of its gate immediately after landing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t took me more than an hour to go from the airport to Jiading as there was no direct way and we had to detour on small roads. The car carrying me seemed to be the only automobile on the road as others were pedestrians or cyclists. Beside the road were trees and old buildings. I felt I had come to another world as expressways were already very popular in Japan at that time.

鈥淣ow, expressways are everywhere in Shanghai and China has the longest length of expressways. It takes me only 15 to 20 minutes to come from the airport to Jiading,鈥� he said. 鈥淧ublic toilet hygiene is no longer a problem. The shanty houses have also been replaced by skyscrapers and bicycles replaced by cars. If people leave China for two or three years, they will be shocked by the dramatic changes here.

鈥淚 had worried about the exchanges with China as we had wars in history,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut in the past 30 years, I have never faced hatred from the Chinese people. China is really a great nation with tolerance and self-confidence and Shanghai is such a great city. So I feel greatly honored to be an honorary citizen of Shanghai.鈥�

Fujimoto said the current Wake Town mayor and another Shanghai honorary citizen Egusa Yasuhiko, an Okayama Prefecture resident who was honored in 1997, have both congratulated him on his award, while Japanese media made appointments with him for interviews.

鈥淭he award will definitely further promote exchanges between our two places,鈥� he said.

Fujimoto said he hopes to spend the rest of his life in improving Jiading Wisteria Park and hopes his children might take over his work. He is bringing them to Shanghai next year with his wife.

鈥淚鈥檓 now 86 years old and will turn 87 in three months,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 love Shanghai as my second hometown and wish to have half of my ashes buried in Japan and half under these wisteria in Jiading after I die.鈥�